Shall we let them know that we are ready?"
"Let every one of us take two muskets," said I: "when the first boat is
under the counter, take good aim, and discharge into one of the boats;
then seize the other musket, and discharge it at the other boat. After
that we must trust to our cutlasses and pistols; for if they come on,
there will be no time to load again. Keep silence, all of you."
The boats now came up full of men; but as we remained perfectly quiet,
they pulled up gently, hoping to surprise us. Fortunately, one was a
little in advance of the other; upon which I altered my directions, and
desired my men to fire their second musket into the first boat, as, if
we could disable her, we were an equal match for those in the other.
When the boat was within six yards of the schooner's counter, "Now!"
said I, and all the muskets were discharged at once, and my men cheered.
Several of the oars dropped, and I was sure we had done great execution;
but they were laid hold of by the other men, who had not been pulling,
and again the boat advanced to the counter.
"Good aim, my lads, this time," cried Swinburne; "the other boat will be
alongside as soon as you have fired. Mr Simple, the schooner has
headway, and there's a strong breeze coming up."
Again we discharged our ten muskets into the boat, but this time we
waited until the bow-man had hooked on the planeshear with his
boat-hook, and our fire was very effective. I was surprised to find that
the other boat was not on board of us; but a light breeze had come up,
and the schooner glided through the water.
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